In 1993, Deborah Crombie published A Share in Death, her first Kincaid and James mystery. In October 2019, she released her 18th in the series, A Bitter Feast. As I discuss why this series is utterly compelling, beware of spoilers! Review: A Bitter Feast A Share in Death, set in a “luxurious Yorkshire time-share,” felt…
For readers of the 1974 Edgar finalists, the authors took extra care to embed some of the reigning societal and political issues of the time into excellent mysteries and thrillers. While women’s rights were slowly advancing with the passage of Title IX (U.S., 1972) and the Equal Pay Act (Great Britain, 1970), P.D. James poked…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, Andy Weir's latest space thriller and a new Molly Murphy mystery from Rhys Bowen highlight an awesome week of…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, Iris & Roy Johansen uncover some of the secrets behind the Night Watch Project in their 4th Kendra Michaels…
Archaeological excavations are underway at Oxford, and the student diggers have unearthed something they probably didn’t expect to find: a dead body wrapped in recycling bags. It’s enough to send police cars screaming to the scene, followed at a slightly less frantic pace by Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and his no-longer-unrequited love, pathologist Laura Hobson…
Make sure you're signed in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of Another Margaret by Janice MacDonald, her newest in the Randy Craig Mystery Series! Back in the 1980’s, I wrote a thesis on parody in the development of detective fiction. My central argument was that the growth of the…
Over what is, in the U.S., a typically festive weekend, we were saddened to learn of the recent death of novelist and reigning “queen of crime” P.D. James. Having published her first novel in her early forties, she went on to write for more than half a century, creating unforgettable characters while examining thorny questions…
George Wickham is in jail facing trial for the murder of his best friend, Captain Denny. He says he didn’t do it and we believe him, but without a more likely perpetrator Wickham will swing for the crime. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is distraught believing that Darcy will blame her for bringing Wickham back into their lives.…
Elizabeth Bennet married Fitzwilliam Darcy and lived happily ever after… …at least until a dead soldier was found on the grounds of their estate at Pemberley. Jane Austen didn’t foresee things working out quite this way in 1813 when she brought together Elizabeth and Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. P.D. James had a different vision…
The theater world has long been a prime setting for mystery and mayhem. Shakespeare, that homicidal scribe, virtually carpeted the stage with slain corpses. The murderers he created are numerous: Richard III, Othello, Titus Andronicus, Lear’s daughter Goneril, Macbeth (both He and She) and a whole squad of Caesar-skewering assassins—whose best-known member, Brutus, made this…
